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28 March 2003 |
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The recent rally cry "Support Our Troops" seems to me little more than a perverted, propaganda ploy to "Support the
War." But we can support our troops, without supporting the war, by rectifying some of the following conditions.
The House of Representatives have recently voted on the 2004 budget which will cut funding for veteran's health care and benefit programs by nearly $25 billion over
the next ten years. It narrowly passed by a vote of 215 to 212, and came just a day after Congress passed a resolution to "Support Our Troops." How exactly does
this vote support our troops? Does leaving our current and future veterans veterans without access to health care and compensation qualify as supporting them?
The Veteran's Administration, plagued by recent budget cuts, has had to resort to charging new veterans entering into its system a yearly fee of $250 in order for them
to receive treatment. It is a sad irony that the very people being sent to fight the war are going to have to pay to treat the effects of it.
According to the Veteran's Administration, 28 million veterans are currently using VA benefits. Another 70 million Americans are potential candidates for such
programs. This amounts to a quarter of the country's population. Veterans and their families will sadly begin finding that they have no place to turn for their medical
treatment as V.A. hospitals across the country face closing their doors. With the budget shrinking, staff will be let go. This could mean the loss of over 19,000 nurses.
Without these nurses, this leads to the loss of over 6.6 million outpatient visits. Approximately one out of every two veterans could lose their only source of medical
care. That is, if they even realize help is available to them. The Bush Administration recently ordered V.A. medical centers to stop publicizing available benefits to
veterans seeking assistance. This follows discontinued enrollments of some eligible veterans for healthcare benefits as of January, 2003.
Bush Administration funding cuts will also prevent veterans from receiving their disability pensions. My father was granted 100% disability six years ago for
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder associated with the Vietnam War. He deserves every cent of it. As do all soldiers who are willing to go to war. Under the Bush
administration, being granted the ability to receive war related compensation has become a rare privilege, not a right as it should be. Nearly a third of Gulf War
veterans, about 209,000 veterans, have submitted claims to to the VA for disability. The backlog of unprocessed claims has reached the astronomical count of 489,297, a
number which is unfortunately increasing all of time. There are also currently 500,000 Compensation and Pension cases still pending.
Making matters worse, forty percent of Vietnam Veterans are homeless. They went from the jungles of the war to the jungles of the street. Before President Bush decided
to declare war, maybe he ought to have considered correcting this situation first. How many current veterans will return home, only to find themselves in the same
situation?
I have seen the effects of war written upon the face of a man who grew old at 17. I have seen it in the way he awakes from yet another night terror. I have seen it in
the countless pills he has to take. They have only succeeded in erasing his memory, but the images of the war he fought are so graphic that they will never be able to
stop playing themselves upon his mind.
Even I, his daughter, have not escaped unscathed. Exposure to the chemical Agent Orange has left me with several genetic problems, including growth problems and
digestive ones. I fear that these current soldiers will be exposed to toxins that will not only affect them, but their future offspring as well.
And today we are told that we must "Support Our Troops." "Wear a yellow ribbon, wave your flag, support the Bush Administration's War on Terror and War
on Iraq." Questioning the war is equated with deserting our troops or treason. And yet how are the warmongers supporting our troops? By eliminating their healthcare
and slashing their pensions. Let us support the warrior without supporting the war.
Ashley L Decker is a student at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
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28 March, 2003 |
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http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0328-13.htm |
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CONTACT:
Veterans for Common Sense WASHINGTON - March 28 - President Bush's speech to veterans garnered applause at the White House today as he praised coalition forces in Iraq. But despite claiming support from what the President termed "the veterans' groups" for the war and a supplemental appropriation of $75 billion to fund it, individual veterans and organized veterans' groups are also on record strongly questioning the wisdom of the Iraq invasion and voicing concerns over the potential for massive casualties. For example, in a letter to President Bush spearheaded by Veterans for Common Sense, 986 U.S. war veteran signatories, including high-ranking officers and Kris Kristofferson, requested a meeting with the White House to discuss their concerns. Although other veterans' groups were invited to the White House today to hear the president's speech, the Veterans for Common Sense letter has received no reply. Posted at http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org , the letter argues that unlike 1991's desert campaign to liberate Kuwait, invading Iraq now would likely entail "protracted siege warfare, chaotic street-to-street fighting in Baghdad, and Iraqi civil conflict," raising fears of "casualties not witnessed since Vietnam." Citing UN predictions of massive Iraqi casualties, including 1.26 million children under age five at particular risk, it states "excessive civilian casualties like those predicted by the UN pose a grave risk to our national security, making the U.S. more of a target of retaliatory attacks by terrorists." As coalition forces close in on Baghdad, the Iraqi defense minister today promised that urban street fighting would ensue and inflict massive casualties. The following signatories to the Veterans for Common Sense letter are available now for media interviews reviewing veterans' positions on the war, and analyzing military aspects of news from the Iraqi front:
These and other veteran signatories are available for interviews. They are based throughout the United States, including Washington, D.C. For more information or interviews, contact Stephen Kent, 845-758-0097 or cell, 914-589-5988.
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